Review of Cinema Paradiso (1988) by Matthew C — 15 Aug 2015

Notable for its look at the art/exhibition of film through the eyes of one young boy from the sticks of Italy, this coming of age story shows how that love ultimately leads to his attainment of a better life. It's a fun and relatable story for anyone who grew up loving -- and continues to love -- movies, and recognizes film's influence on their lives.

While visually beautiful and chock full of fascinating social commentary, the film doesn't completely gel for me tonally. Like fellow Italian, Sergio Leone often tries, director, Giuseppe Tornatore seems hell-bent on fusing overly goofy imagery, slapstick, and potty humor with often dire, depressing content or overly-saccharine schmaltz. Roberto Benigni seems to be the only Italian that can make this type of mixture work (see Life is Beautiful).

All kidding aside, there have been plenty of films that can accomplish this to great effect, but this just isn't one of them. Maybe there's something I'm losing in translation, but I either can't take the film's emotional scenes seriously or I can't laugh at its humor in light of its awful implications for the characters, or can't give props for a joke because it follows a manipulative moment of sappiness.

Also off-putting is the film's use of completely ADR'd (dubbed) dialogue. No, I don't mean a re-dub in English. I viewed a subtitled copy. I'm referring to what appears to be a soundtrack made up exclusively of post-produced audio. Perhaps this was due to a technical limitation of Italian cinema at the time (only 1980s?), or (more than likely) is in keeping with Italian production techniques. Whatever it is, the dialogue comes across very goofy, stilted, and even completely out of synch at times. In many cases it even seems as if actors have been completely replaced on the film's soundtrack. Am I nitpicking? Maybe. But this is very distracting -- adding slight comedy where it doesn't belong.

Visually, this is a well-directed/photographed film. The story itself is often cute, funny, heartwarming, and deep. Not to mention, it's also extremely nostalgic. [I also enjoy the transitions between child and grown-up Salvatore's life.] But, for me, these feelings and tones don't gel very well at all. It's as if Bugs Bunny directed all of the depressing scenes, Michael Bay directed the schmaltzy ones, and David Lynch directed the comedic moments. No, directed by David Cronenberg! ...or Ingmar Bergman. I dunno. Someone depressing.